(24 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Hamburg, Germany, 23 January 2024
1. Various of French Navy pilot Lt. Terry (surname withheld by French military) conducting a pre-flight inspection of French Navy Atlantique 2 maritime surveillance aircraft that he pilots, during a refueling stop
2. Terry inside plane as it takes off
ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Over Germany and the Baltic Sea – 23 January 2025
3. Various of Terry and other members of the crew aboard
4. Various of crew members operating consoles, showing data and images from the plane’s onboard sensors and monitoring equipment
5. Various of ships in the Baltic Sea (on screens) that the patrol aircraft spots and tracks using its cameras
6. Flight commander Lt. Alban (surname withheld by French military) broadcasts on an open channel, informing ships’ crews of the plane’s mission over the Baltic Sea
7. UPSOUND (English) flight commander Lt. Alban: “All ships. All ships. All ships. This is NATO maritime patrol aircraft on channel one-six. NATO is maintaining a persistent military presence in the Baltic Sea region in coordination with NATO Baltic nations. In order to safeguard safety and security, freedom of navigation, and the security of undersea infrastructure, NATO is conducting maritime security activity ‘Baltic Sentry.’”
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Lt. Alban (surname withheld by French military), flight commander:
“With ‘Baltic Sentry,’ so NATO countries wanted to have a bigger focus on the Baltic Sea area, so France, for example, has deployed more assets on the sea and in the air than there used to be before. So we are already familiar with the area but now we overfly this more and more because of the recent event(s) that happened on the critical underwater infrastructure. So that’s why France decided to give more assets to have a closer look on this area of the NATO territory.”
8. Various of a crewman operating his monitor
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lt. Alban (surname withheld by French military), flight commander:
“We cannot for sure determine if there is sabotage or not because, as you can see, we are in the aircraft and it’s happening under the sea, so we can’t look at this. But what we can look at is all the commercial activity, the shipping activity, in the vicinity of this strategical infrastructure. And if we witness some suspicious activities from ships at sea – for example, ships at very low speed or at anchorage in a position that they shouldn’t be at this time – so this is something we can see. And we can have a very close look with our sensors to see what is happening aboard the ships.”
10. Various of crew members watching their monitors and images of ships navigating in the Baltic Sea
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Lt. Damien (surname withheld by French military), flight crewmember:
“We managed to complete the mission. We followed and we tracked the maritime shipping, civilian shipping, to see if there was some suspect activity or illegal activity. We didn’t detect any suspicious activity today, so it was a calm flight.”
12. Various of crewmembers in the cockpit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lorient, France – 23 January 2025
13. Various of plane approaching Lorient before landing at its home base just outside the port city ++NIGHT SHOTS++
STORYLINE:
NATO began a new mission over the Baltic Sea which the transatlantic alliance says is to protect undersea cables and pipelines.
The operation follows a string of incidents that have heightened fears of Russian sabotage and spying in the strategic region.
Other French flights, however, will be back over the Baltic soon, keeping guard.
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